I shut down a website today!

[Cheesefood]

This afternoon, I got one of those eBay Phishing e-mails. As usual, I did a "View Source" to see where this one was generated from, and was surprised to see that it was a .com address. I went to the root site, and it's just some family blog! OK, so I go back to the e-mail and click on the link and sure enough, it's to a site wanting my eBay userID and password.

So I run over to godaddy.com and do a whois. Conveniently enough, they register their name with godaddy, so I send godaddy an anti-phishing e-mail. Then I go to us-cert.gov and fill one out. I also forwarded it to [email protected].

I started to search around for the name of the person to whom the site belonged, and I find it's the name of a prominant investment banker in California. I looked around, and was quickly convinced that it couldn't be this guy, even though it's the same first name, middle initial and last name as the registered name on the account. So I go back to the whois and find an e-mail address.

I enter the site from the e-mail address and find out that it's Jr. who it's registered to, and the site on the e-mail address shows me that Jr. is a web designer who owns his own web marketing company.

So I go into a never-used e-mail account and send a note to Jr., Sr. (who's e-mail address is readily available since he's also a grad school professor at a reputable college) and Jr's business partner letting them know that I was reporting them to everyone for the phishing site.

A few moments later, I get a reply from ebay saying that the e-mail is indeed a phishing e-mail and that they've contacted the correct authorities. I go back to the guy's family website, and it's completely shut down. I mean, I'm not just getting 404's or unable to load page errors, I mean that nothing is loading there. It looks like it's been completely turned off.

Small victory for me today.

 

[user 574]

Nice work fellow geek.

 

[Cheesefood]

Nice work fellow geek.

I can nerd it up with the best of them.

 

[user 574]

Quite satisfying - it's like 21st century e-hunting when you can track <fill in blank> in the computer world and unleash some hell back at em.

 

[Mike's Brew and Brat]

wish there were more of you guys out there shutting those websites down.
Way to go Cheesefood!

 

[Dude]

Ya big tattletale.

 

[todd_k]

I would congratulate you but first please give me your social security # and date of birth so I can verifiy that this is really you.

 

[Cheesefood]

I would congratulate you but first please give me your social security # and date of birth first so I can verifiy that this is really you.

That makes sense, it's 847-40-0868 and my DOB is 5/2/75.

Let me get my credit card number. Here, its...

 

[Brewpastor]

I thought Phish was a band...

 

[Caplan]

I thought Phish was a band...

Nah. Ex Lead Singer with a dodgy Prog Rock band called 'Marillion'

 

[david_42]

Fine work, me lad. That ebay and paypal garbage are about the only things that get through the bluebottle filters. Know anything about killing gophers? (the rodents, not the turtles)

 

[user 574]

Know anything about killing gophers? (the rodents, not the turtles)

Well for me it's pack rats. Nasty little buggers. My trick is jam the hose into their nest/hole, crank the water and wait with my pellet gun and a beer which can take up to 1/2 hour. If it happens to be my front yard, I'll take the shirt off just to offend the neighbors. Don't know why none of them ever come over to say hi .

Someone was offended with my actions once and told me to use a live trap. Yea I did that once. It sat in that "live trap" in 100+ degree weather all day until it croaked. That was humane .

 

[2nd Street Brewery]

I got the same email. I hope noone mined this site. I reported mine to paypal because it was telling me a charge was made on my account for a purchase on ebay. It said if I did not make the purchase I should click on a link to dispute it.

 

[Brewsmith]

Know anything about killing gophers? (the rodents, not the turtles)

When I was a kid, our dog, a german shepherd, would stand over gopher holes and when they popped their head up, he'd bite 'em and kill 'em. What a great dog.

 

[david_42]

Katiebell (a retired racing greyhound) is a real squeekie killer, but she has yet to make the connection between holes and critters. If she can't see it, it ain't there. If she can see it, it ain't there long!

 

[Beer Snob]

Nice job! I, incidently, found this website that specifically talks about the 2003 Ebay scam if anyone is iinterested.

http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/p/phishing.html

 

[Cheesefood]

The trick is to try to select the text on it. If you can't, then it's an image file which is how it gets through spam filters. In that case, do a View > Source and look for the <a href... /> link. That'll show you the website it's taking you to.

As for the gophers, I just flushed a possum out of my garage yesterday.

You know, I was driving down the road one day, someone had hit a possum.
Oh possum
..............possum
........................possum

Your end is the road.

 

[knewshound]

Know anything about killing gophers? (the rodents, not the turtles)

Try road flares.

Spark one up and bury it in the hole, everywhere you see smoke, drop in another.

Works like a charm and the bodies come pre-buried.

Cheers,

knewshound

 

[Cheesefood]

Know anything about killing gophers?

"Forgive me if I'm wrong, but if I kill all the golfers, they'll put me away."

How did this go so long without being referrenced?

 

[Bernie Brewer]

You know, I was driving down the road one day, someone had hit a possum.


Your end is the road.

Eww that reminds me I ran over a possum on my motorcycle years ago. I was young and stupid and drunk and doing about 85 on a country road at about 2:00 am. the damned thing ran out in front of me and all I could do was try and hit it square. Luckily I did, but possum guts sprayed all over the bike. Damned bike stunk to high heaven every time I fired it up for at least a month......yuck

 

[Genghis77]

Juicy Fruit gum will kill gophers, moles and other rodents. Clogs up their digestive systems. Decon works well but should be placed well down the tunnel to keep out of reach of cats and dogs.

 

[Beer Snob]

"Forgive me if I'm wrong, but if I kill all the golfers, they'll put me away."

Just get elected as Vice President.... you'll be fine. It became a cocktail party joke hours after he pulled the trigger.

 

[Rhoobarb]

... You know, I was driving down the road one day, someone had hit a possum...

Reminds me of a joke. What's the difference between a dead skunk in the road and a dead lawyer? The skunk had skid marks in front of it's dead body.

Bonus joke: Why can't Hellen Keller drive? Because she's a woman!

Okay, now I'm gonna hear it from lawyers, females and, worst of all, female lawyers.

 

[Spyk'd]

"Forgive me if I'm wrong, but if I kill all the golfers, they'll put me away."

How did this go so long without being referrenced?

How about:

Hello, Mr. Gopher! It's me, Mr. Squirrel.

Just a harmless squirrel.

Not a plastic explosive or anything.
Nothing to be worried about.

I'm just here to make your last hours
on earth as peaceful as possible.

Don't mind this. This is doctor's orders.

You don't mind if I just pop in there
for a few laughs?

That's right. Or in the words
of Jean-Paul Sartre:

"Au revoir, gopher."

 

[Ize]

How about:

Hello, Mr. Gopher! It's me, Mr. Squirrel.

Just a harmless squirrel.

Not a plastic explosive or anything.
Nothing to be worried about.

I'm just here to make your last hours
on earth as peaceful as possible.

Don't mind this. This is doctor's orders.

You don't mind if I just pop in there
for a few laughs?

That's right. Or in the words
of Jean-Paul Sartre:

"Au revoir, gopher."

Thanks, now I have Kenny Loggins stuck in my head....

Ize